Warnings: Dark themes, lots of mentions of death, strong language, human experimentation, experimenting on children, child abduction, graphic descriptions of experimenting, lots of needles, lots of violence, poor descriptions of panic attacks, descriptions of blood, rated M for safety.
*If I need to add anymore warnings please tell me in the reviews or a PM and I'll be sure to add it!*
Chapter 69: Enjoying a Festival
"Fes-ti-val! Fes-ti-val! Fes-ti-val!" Luffy cheered, arms raising in time with his chant as he walked beside Ace and Sabo. Sabo rolled his eyes, though smiled fondly, and Ace was sharing Luffys excitement but lacked the chant and arm motions.
"Just remember Lu, we still have to be careful." Sabo reiterated as the trio made their way out onto the deck. Luffy nodded quickly, chant forgotten and arms falling back to his sides.
"I know. And don't let in too many good emotions." Luffy said, repeating the words Ace and Sabo had told him in their room.
"Exactly. Other than that, let's try to have some fun." Sabo said, feeling that a little fun was long deserved. Ace and Luffy grinned and nodded in unison as they reached Marco, their escort yet again. This time he was with Haruta and Izo, the two having asked if they could tag along so they could have a bit of fun as well to which the brothers saw no harm in and agreed.
"Ready to go?" Izo asked with a smile. Luffy cheered loudly again, fists high in the air once more.
"Yeah! I can't wait! Do you think they'll have meat? And balloons too! I saw a balloon once a looong time ago for a birthday back at our home island, before I met Ace and Sabo, and it was so colorful and it was floating too!" Luffy rambled to Haruta who listened diligently at his side while everyone else followed behind them.
"I don't know if its all the happy feelings or what, but Luffy's acting more... Luffy-like lately." Ace muttered, more to himself than anything.
"I was thinking the same thing," Sabo admitted, and while he was glad his brother was seeming to go back to normal, he knew that wasn't completely the case. There was still a lot Luffy wasn't doing compared to everything he was doing that seemed like his old self.
"More Luffy-like?" Izo asked, curious.
"Yeah, you know... loud, excited over anything, practically bouncing off the walls twenty-four-seven. That kind of thing." Ace said nonchalantly with a shrug. Sabo rolled his eyes and sighed.
"What Ace means to say is that Luffy used to be a lot more... excitable when we were younger. He didn't exactly have a lot of self-preservation and would always get himself into dangerous situations in the blink of an eye. I swear, you turned around for two seconds and he somehow managed to have half the jungle chasing him." Sabo said, pinching the bridge of his nose at the memories of having to fight off multiple predators just because Luffy thought it would be a good idea to pet them.
"I wouldn't have guessed, yoi," Marco said honestly because everything that he and everyone else on the Moby had seen said otherwise. Sure, ever since the brothers joined the three had clearly made an effort to be more open and talkative, and Luffy had been acting pretty cheerful recently, but that seemed more like a rare occurrence rather than the teen's normal behavior.
"Come on you guys, we're almost there!" Luffy said, turning to walk backward, smiling widely as he did. Behind him, the town was bustling excitedly, the sounds of laughter and chatter buzzing in the air. As they had seen briefly yesterday, there was an abundance of banners, balloons, and flags all hanging cheerfully, the biggest banner showing that this festival was meant to celebrate a good, early harvest that they'd recently had.
"We're coming Lu, don't worry," Sabo reassured. Pleased, Luffy turned to face forward again, beginning his conversation with Haruta again as if it hadn't stopped.
Conversation amongst the rest of the group ceased, only because they were suddenly being engulfed in the crowd of people all attempting to enjoy the festival that spanned the streets. Everywhere they looked they could see stalls selling food or trinkets, people handing out flowers, musicians, dancers, and even a magician. Ace and Sabo looked around in awe, neither of them ever having been to an event like this before.
Luffy had grown up for a short time in the village before meeting the two, so he'd been to a few festivals and parties- though they were a lot more scaled back than this one- but Ace had grown up with the bandits and in the jungle.
It wasn't like the Tiger Lord was throwing festivals for good catches.
Sabo, on the other hand, had grown up for a short time in an actual town, unlike Ace. However, it was filled with nobles who thought throwing festivals like this was too mundane and made them look like the peasants outside their precious walls. Needless to say, the only parties Sabo ever attended were boring and filled with stuck-up nobles who only bragged about how much wealthier they were than someone else.
This, however, was completely different from all of their past experiences, and it was amazing.
"We have to get food first! Oh, look Ace, there's a magician! Do you think they can make meat appear out of nowhere?! Sabo, look over there, that balloon is so big! How do you think it hasn't popped yet? Ne, can I go pop-"
"No Luffy, you cant pop the balloon," Sabo said, steering the young teen's eyes away from the balloon by giving him a kebab Ace had gotten during Luffy's rambling.
"Oh, thanks, Sabo!" Luffy said, eating the whole thing in one bite. The Commanders watched in amusement as the brothers continued on this way, Luffy chattering excitedly and pointing things out for them while Ace and Sabo curbed him from causing any trouble.
"They're a natural at keeping him focused and out of trouble," Izo noted as Ace once again kept Luffy from running off to do something stupid.
"If what Sabo said earlier is true, then they've had lots of practice," Marco replied, arms crossed as he followed the brothers closely, not wanting them to get lost.
"What are you talking about?" Haruta asked, having been talking to Luffy earlier and not hearing the earlier conversation.
"Ah, Ace and Sabo were just telling us that Luffy seems to be acting more like his old self lately. Apparently, he was quite a wild child and caused trouble easily." Izo said, noting out of the corner of his eye that Sabo had once again stopped Luffy from stealing food from a stall, making him go back and pay, as well as apologize.
"Really? I would have never guessed." Haruta murmured, thinking back to how Luffy normally acted around them and trying to compare it to the Luffy he was seeing now.
"Neither would I, yoi. It seems the facility did more damage then we thought." Marco said, the three of them going silent after the comment. Mentioning the dreaded place brought up bad feelings in all that had heard the brothers' story, but they could only imagine what it would be like to actually have to go through everything they did.
"Well, we just need to show them that we'll never be like those bastards," Haruta said determinedly. Izo and Marco both nodded their agreement.
"Izo, Marco, Ruta, come on, I wanna go see the people playing music!" Luffy cheered, giving them a bright smile that they felt fit the D.
"Yeah, come on guys, I wanna see them too!" Haruta cheered right along with Luffy, the two of them nearly running off together, Ace and Sabo hot on their heels.
"I swear, Ruta can be just as bad as Luffy supposedly can be," Izo muttered as he picked up his pace, trying to ignore the fact that the bottom of his kimono had just gotten splashed with water from a nearby puddle someone had stepped in.
"It seems we could probably learn a thing or two from Ace and Sabo," Marco said with a sigh and a shake of his head.
"You've got that right." Izo sighed back.
The group went and enjoyed the musicians, as well as the magician once they realized how close together they were, and Luffy watched in amazement as the man began pulling a long, colorful, train of handkerchiefs from his sleeve.
"Ace, ne Ace, look! There's so many!" Luffy said in awe, tugging on Aces hand as he watched the cloth pile at the magician's feet.
"Pretty cool." Ace agreed, also watching in fascination, not having seen a magician before. The next trick was the classic pull a rabbit from a hat which further amazed Luffy. Sabo watched in amusement, enjoying how Luffy seemed to be letting himself go, letting himself enjoy the festival. There wasn't even a hint of the timid boy from the facility, but Sabo knew that would change once the excitement of the festival was gone.
For right now though, it was easy to forget everything they'd gone through. It was easy to just enjoy themselves for once.
"I think I can see some games over there Lu. Wanna go try 'em?" Sabo asked, getting an eager nod in response along with cheer. Sabo let Luffy drag Ace off, relying on his eldest brothers eyesight to guide them, while Sabo turned to the commanders who had been with them the whole day.
"You don't mind following us around?" Sabo asked, genuinely curious. He didn't imagine that following them as they chased after Luffy was much fun, but they were at a festival.
"We don't mind. I haven't been able to really enjoy a festival in a while. Thatch normally gets his stupid self drunk and I have to take care of him which, might I add, is a hundred times worse then this could ever be." Izo said with a shake of his head.
"Thatch normally tries to drag me into his drinking contests so I normally stay on the ship, yoi. This is a nice change." Marco agreed with a shrug.
"Yeah, and I love festivals so I don't mind. Why don't I show you why Thatch swears I cheat in ring toss?" Haruta asked, waggling his eyebrows and smirking as the group followed after Ace and Luffy who were already at one of the many game stalls.
"Sounds like fun, Ruta," Sabo said with a smile, glad that he and his brothers weren't forcing the Commanders to do anything they deemed as boring or annoying. He didn't think that following them around and babysitting them would be all that fun, but they truly didn't seem to mind which put him at ease.
Once they caught up, Haruta did as promised and bought himself a few rounds of ring toss, winning with nearly perfect accuracy the entire time. Luffy was awed once again, and Ace was watching Haruta skeptically, trying to figure out just how he was so good at the game.
Needless to say, Sabo agreed with Thatch's thoughts that Haruta somehow cheated at the game.
The group moved throughout the game stalls, occasionally stopping to play a few before continuing on, and all too soon, the sun was beginning to set. It felt as if the day had flown by, but now they had to start heading back to the Moby.
The thought of that didn't scare the brothers like it used to though. It no longer brought a feeling of fear and anxiety to think about staying with the pirates on the Moby. Sure, they were still terrified of Teach, but with the efforts they made to avoid him and with help from the Commanders and Whitebeard himself, it was easy to pretend he wasn't on the ship. Even if his presence did set them on edge.
The walk back was a bit subdued, everyone tired from walking around all day long and having fun. It was a good subdued. Peaceful. One you felt after making good memories. The rest of the village seemed to feel the same way as they did as the loud, boisterous chatter and laughter slowly died down into a dull, peaceful quiet. There was still laughter and people talking, but it wasn't nearly as loud as before as people slowly began making their way back home.
As they walked, the brothers took their time taking in the festival, knowing it might be a while before they stumbled upon an island that was celebrating something again, and it was then that Sabo was bumped into.
It was an honest accident- neither Sabo nor the man had been paying attention- and the man was quick to apologize which Sabo waved off with an apology of his own.
However, he noticed that, when he'd been bumped into, his wristband had inched too far up, uncovering the numbers it hid ever so slightly. It was enough to make Sabo briefly panic as he readjusted the band, looking around quickly to make sure no one had seen. The only one looking at him was Luffy, who had noticed his sudden panic, but he just smiled reassuringly to his brother, calmer now after seeing no one looking his way. Luffy smiled back, turning to face forward again
Sabo quietly reprimanded himself, telling himself to be more careful, and left it at that. He and his brothers had had fun today, and he wanted to have more days like this.
Maybe, with Whiskeys help, they could have a lot more happy days like this.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
He had been looking around nearly all day now. First, he had waited by the infamous Moby Dick, careful not to be seen by any of the pirates, but as the village grew more and more animated due to the festival and more and more pirates bustled off their ship to join in, it grew harder for him to find any sign of the three he'd seen yesterday.
He didn't have much to go off of after all. All he knew was they all had wristbands, and they all had hats. If they weren't wearing their hats, he was screwed, because everyone looked the same in this crowd and there were quite a few people milling around that were wearing some kind of covering on their wrist, whether it be a wristband, a bracelet, watch, you name it.
He barely even knew their hair color, and it was nothing that would stand out either, two dark-haired teens and a blonde.
He sighed once again, ready to give up altogether. This seemed to be an impossible mission, but if he did it, he just knew he would get that promotion. Everyone had been looking for this demon trio, and if he was the one to find them, his days of working on this tiny, boring island would be gone.
He may even get a few soldiers of his own to command.
With a renewed vigor he began inspecting each and every person that walked passed him, looking for any similarities between the three he'd seen yesterday and the people in front of him.
Would they be walking in a group? Or would they split up? If they split up it would definitely be more difficult for him to recognize them. He just had to hope that the demon trio liked to stay a trio and didn't like exploring alone.
Narrowed eyes skimmed across the crowd, deciding those who couldn't be the trio- whether they were too tall, too old, too young, or weren't wearing a cover on their wrist- and took in all those who could be them.
He hadn't seen anyone wearing the hats he'd seen yesterday which only further proved his previous thoughts that they might not even be wearing them today, but just as he thought that he spotted them.
They were already well into the towns festivities, probably having been there the entire time he'd been waiting near the docks. They were at one of the food stalls, the trio mingling amongst a group that he knew to be commanders of the Whitebeards.
Just his luck.
Moving quickly, he merged into the crowd, keeping his focus trained on the group that was now making their way towards some of the provided entertainment- a local man who claimed to be a magician and some musicians.
Once again, he had yet to see the trio's faces, but they're hats were just as he remembered, and as he looked at their wrists he saw the same bands on them, all showing off the Whitebeard Pirates' jolly roger. Thinking quickly he raised his Kameko and snapped a shot of the symbol, prepared to show it in his report to help prove the marines' previous theory that the Whitebeards had aided the children from the facility in escaping.
The group stopped to watch the magician as he started pulling a never-ending supply of colorful handkerchiefs from his sleeve and he took this time to position himself into a better spot so he could see their faces.
Try as he might though, it was for naught because as soon as he tried making his way through the crowd to get a better view, everyone decided now was the time to get in his way. To avoid drawing attention to himself he waited calmly as quite a large group of people crossed right in front of his path, keeping him from advancing. Once they were gone, so was the demon trio.
With an angry remark, he scanned the surrounding area to try and figure out where they had gone, thanking his lucky stars when he found them relatively quickly. They were walking away from the entertainment and off towards some games that had been set up.
Chase beginning anew, he hurried after them, still cautious enough to keep enough distance to not look suspicious. Once they stopped again he attempted yet again to get a better angle, and this time was able to do so without issue. He had to awkwardly maneuver between people and stand quite obviously in between a cluster of houses, but he finally had a view of the demon trio.
To say they didn't look like he expected, though, would be an understatement. When he'd first heard about the trio he had spent countless days wondering what kind of ruthless monsters they could be, wondered how scary they would look, how deadly they were.
Looking at the three teens though, he wondered if he even had the right kids after all.
Shaking his head from those thoughts he frowned, raising his Kameko up to get the shots he needed.
No matter how innocent someone looked, that didn't mean they weren't the scum of the Earth. After all, just take the Devil Child from Ohara for instance.
After getting the pictures, he decided to continue following them, both to make sure they didn't cause trouble, and to make sure he really did have the right kids. He wouldn't know that for sure though unless one of them moved their wristbands, and he wasn't about to get his hopes up that that would happen again.
He followed them around for another few hours before something happened.
With the big crowd, it was only inevitable that you would get bumped into, and that's exactly what happened to the blonde. Someone bumped right into him, and with a smile, the blonde waved it off, but in doing so, the marine saw that his wristband had been ever so slightly nudged, showing the hints of his number underneath. He seemed to realize it at the same time the blonde did, but he was quick to get a shot before the blonde could cover it back up.
He also had to quickly duck behind a stall when the blonde began looking around, a slight look of panic in his eyes at the thought that someone might have seen.
Taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart at nearly getting caught, the marine slowly poked his head around the cart, ignoring the looks he was getting for how strange he looked to the villagers. Seeing that the group was once again on the move, not having noticed him, he sighed in relief, deciding to quit while he was ahead.
He had their pictures, he had evidence it was them, and he had proof they were with the Whitebeards.
Hello promotion, goodbye boring island.
A marine may have found the brothers out, but at least the three were able to enjoy the festival, right? Even when they're having a good time, bad things still happen to them without them even knowing.
The brothers were able to let loose at the festival, though. They've yet to truly relax around the Whitebeards and this festival was something they desperately needed. With all the bad that comes their way, the brothers need some good. With the marine having gotten their pictures however, that just means that there will no doubt be more bad to come.
Also, next week will be chapter 70! 70! I think I say this every time something like this happens, but I never imagined I could write a story this long! 70 chapters is intense, and I doubt I'm getting many new readers because I know if I saw a story this long, I'd be intimidated by its size- Insert 'That's what she said'- and decide not to read it. I almost didn't watch One Piece all that time ago because, at the time, it had almost 300 episodes and I didn't think I could invest that much time into catching up on it, but here we are, years later with the anime now at over 900 episodes.
Its a good thing I started when I did, or else I highly doubt I would have watched One Piece with the amount of episodes it has now.
Anyways, rambling aside, thank you to everyone who has invested a years worth of their time into continuing to follow this story, even if it is slow and sometimes boring. Oh, and thank you for 900 reviews, even if it is only 899 right now. To whoever is going to be the 900th reviewer, thank you too in advance! If it weren't for all of you, I don't think I would have found the motivation to continue this story.
With all of that said, I'll see you all next week with chapter 70! You're all the best supporters I could ever ask for!